Informed CIO: Private Cloud Automation

Jasmine McTigue06/01/12

Informed CIO: Private Cloud Automation

Our InformationWeek 2012 Private Cloud Survey shows that the technology has reached a tipping point: 51% of 414 respondents, all of them involved with managing, purchasing, advising on or implementing data center technologies, are either starting a project (30%) or have a private cloud today.

Unfortunately, when we asked those building private clouds about nine critical steps, ­orchestrating automation across multiple subsystems came in dead last (see Figure 1, p. 5). Let’s be clear: no automation, no cloud.

How do we figure that? NIST defines cloud as having five essential characteristics: on-demand self-service, broad network ­access, ­resource pooling, rapid elasticity or expansion, and measured service. While ­virtualization and proper WAN engineering will provide resource pooling, elasticity and broad network access, measured service and—most importantly—on-demand self-­service are not part of standard virtualization management suites. No, for self-service, ­automation is required to drive the infrastructure in a preprogrammed fashion in ­accordance with “customer” desire, even if private cloud “customers” are really just ­internal resources. Here’s how to get there. (S5170612)